Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire was composed of the overseas colonies and territories governed by Portugal. One of the longest-lived empires in world history, it existed for almost six centuries, from the capture of Ceuta in 1415, to the handover of Portuguese Macau to China in 1999. The empire began in the 15th century, and from the early 16th century it stretched across the globe, with bases in North and South America, Africa, and various regions of Asia and Oceania. The Portuguese Empire has been described, together with the Spanish Empire, as the first global empire in history. Description Apperance The Portuguese Empire is depicted as a man and is usually represented with different clothes: with a Portuguese conqueror armor or with a military suit of commanders of the time. Personality Like the Roman Empire, the Portuguese Empire stands out for a change in personality over time. From being a person moved by arrogance, greed and power to be a much more understanding person with others, moved by the expansion of the Modern Age and European knowledge to the New World. Developing a great interest in cartography, geography and navigation. This same personality is usually applied to other European powers of the time, such as the Spanish Empire, the Russian Empire, Prussia, the Swedish Empire or the French Empire. History The Portuguese Empire originated at the beginning of the Age of Discovery, and the power and influence of the Kingdom of Portugal would eventually expand across the globe. In the wake of the Reconquista, Portuguese sailors began exploring the coast of Africa and the Atlantic archipelagos in 1418–19, using recent developments in navigation, cartography and maritime technology such as the caravel, with the aim of finding a sea route to the source of the lucrative spice-trade. In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama reached India. In 1500, either by an accidental landfall or by the crown's secret design, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil on the South American coast. Over the following decades, Portuguese sailors continued to explore the coasts and islands of East Asia, establishing forts and factories as they went. By 1571 a string of naval outposts connected Lisbon to Nagasaki along the coasts of Africa, the Middle East, India and South Asia. This commercial network and the colonial trade had a substantial positive impact on Portuguese economic growth (1500–1800), when it accounted for about a fifth of Portugal's per-capita income. When King Philip II of Spain (Philip I of Portugal) seized the Portuguese crown in 1580 there began a 60-year union between Spain and Portugal known to subsequent historiography as the Iberian Union. The realms continued to have separate administrations. As the King of Spain was also King of Portugal, Portuguese colonies became the subject of attacks by three rival European powers hostile to Spain: the Dutch Republic, England, and France. With its smaller population, Portugal found itself unable to effectively defend its overstretched network of trading posts, and the empire began a long and gradual decline. Eventually, Brazil became the most valuable colony of the second era of empire (1663–1825), until, as part of the wave of independence movements that swept the Americas during the early 19th century, it broke away in 1822. The third era of empire covers the final stage of Portuguese colonialism after the independence of Brazil in the 1820s. By then, the colonial possessions had been reduced to forts and plantations along the African coastline (expanded inland during the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century), Portuguese Timor, and enclaves in India (Portuguese India) and China (Portuguese Macau). The 1890 British Ultimatum led to the contraction of Portuguese ambitions in Africa. Under António Salazar (in office 1932–1968), the Second Portuguese Republic made some ill-fated attempts to cling on to its last remaining colonies. Under the ideology of Pluricontinentalism, the regime renamed its colonies "overseas provinces" while retaining the system of forced labour, from which only a small indigenous élite was normally exempt. In 1961 India annexed Goa and Dahomey (now Benin) annexed Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá. The Portuguese Colonial War in Africa lasted from 1961 until the final overthrow of the Estado Novo regime in 1974. The so-called Carnation Revolution of April 1974 in Lisbon led to the hasty decolonization of Portuguese Africa and to the 1975 annexation of Portuguese Timor by Indonesia. Decolonization prompted the exodus of nearly all the Portuguese colonial settlers and of many mixed-race people from the colonies. Portugal returned Macau to China in 1999. The only overseas possessions to remain under Portuguese rule, the Azores and Madeira, both had overwhelmingly Portuguese populations, and Lisbon subsequently changed their constitutional status from "overseas provinces" to "autonomous regions". Relationships Friends * Austria-Hungary * Ayutthayan Empire ' (ex-wife) * 'British Empire * Kingdom of Denmark and Norway * Inca Empire (currently) * Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth * Russian Empire * Swedish Empire Neutral * First French Empire * Holy Roman Empire * Kingdom of France * Kingdom of Italy * Prussia * Spanish Empire * Tokugawa Shogunate * United States Enemies * Chinese Empire * Dutch Empire * Inca Empire (formerly) * Ottoman Empire Past Versions * Kingdom of Portugal Future Versions * First Portuguese Republic Successors * Angola * Brazil * Cape Verde * East Timor * Guinea-Bissau * Mozambique * São Tomé and Príncipe Trivia * The Portuguese and Spanish Empires are the only European Empires that pair with Amerindian Empires. ** The countries of Latin America are the result of the union between native and Iberian cultures. * The Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Empire or the First French Empire usually pair up as a romantic love-hate relationship even though this countries are classified as family. While both France, Portugal and Spain fought each other for world supremacy, this countries often use their history to find Franco-Spanish-Portuguese ties. In fact, France, Portugal and Spain boast of having one of the most epic stories in Europe and constantly share their stories with each other. References * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Empire * https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imp%C3%A9rio_Portugu%C3%AAs Category:Characters Category:Former Countries Category:Europe Category:The Americas Category:Asia Category:Oceania Category:Africa Category:Everything Category:Latin countries Category:Lusophones Category:Empires Category:Christian Countries Category:Catholic Countries Category:Southern Europe